Too Much Pride
by E.M. Rosing
Summary: <html><head></head>She misses him, but will she let her foolish pride get in the way? Two-shot. R&R</html>
1. Chapter 1

She was lounging on her twin bed in the dorm room she shared with Laura Mays at Queens. It had been a long and brutal semester, and now after her first finals test, she was reading _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen. It was almost comical how the book made it impossible for her to get **him** out of her head. She thought the same things about him that the main character of the book, Elizabeth thought of Mr. Darcy. In her mind he was a pompous, stuck-up, jerk. And he had thought of her the way Darcy thought of Elizabeth, a boring person for whom he would never even give the time of day. Unlike Darcy and Elizabeth however they would never end up together, no matter how much she fantasized about it.

He was the person she hated the most and the person she loved the most all in one. Living with him was torture. He would pick on her, prank her, call her names, scream and fight with her and she missed every minute of it. They were at the same college for Pete's sake! They never saw each other on campus and he only called her when he needed something. He didn't want to be associated with keener Klutzilla ever again; he had made it perfectly clear.

But still, the pang in her stomach just wouldn't go way. Her heart felt like lead in her chest and she just couldn't get him off her mind. She really wanted to see him. Maybe it was stupid, but she just couldn't help herself from picking up her cell phone and scrolling through her contacts, searching for his name, and then, hitting the green call button. She knew it was a bad idea, lifting her phone to her ear and listening to ring, waiting for him to answer.

"Why do phones even ring when you call someone?" she thought to herself. But that's not what was important right now. Right now she heard the click of a phone being picked up after 14 rings. Yes, she did count how many times the phone rang before he picked up.

"Casey?" he asked, as if he was surprised she was calling, shocked even.

"Hey," she said in a sort of soft, awkward, apologetic (in a way) voice.

"Hey?" he replied, still in shock. "What do you want?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to call," she said hesitantly.

"You just wanted to call me?" he said slowly and drawn out.

"Yeah, ya know, to see how you're doing."

"Fiiiiine?"

"That's good," she said with a sort of smile.

"Listen Space Case," he said impatiently. "I can't chat right now, I got finals to study for."

"Like you study!"

"Ok, cram for."

"That's better."

"Case," he said with a sigh. "What do you want?"

"I just -," now it was her turn to sigh.

"What is it Casey?" he snapped.

"I just miss you, Derek."

There was silence on the other end of the line, and then came another sigh, and then a chuckle.

"I miss you too, Casey," Derek said with a laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

**Because I just had to :)**

* * *

><p>He stared into the deep oblivion that was his text book, getting absolutely no information from it. The clock on his desk in his dorm room read 10:28 p.m., which was still fairly early for a late night cramming session that he was sure would last till at least one or two in the morning. But this class on the "Great Female Authors 1800 – 1900" was a bitch. When they read Jane Eyre, the first question off Ms. Doll's tongue was "What does the tree in Jane Eyre symbolize?" To which he responded (in his head) with a resounding, "How the hell am I supposed to know?" And just in case you were wondering, the tree in Jane Eyre symbolizes Jane's relationship with a dude named Rochester, he thought Rochester was just a town in some place like Minnesota.<p>

"Why?" he asked himself as he buried his face in his hands, trying to rub the fatigue out of his eyes. At that moment he was wondering why in the world had he signed up for a class that focused on women and would no doubt be taken by over-achieving, super smart, keener types of girls? But that answer was simple, he already knew why. Because she was likely to sign up for that class, but to his luck and for whatever reason, she didn't.

He'd seen her a few times that first week at University, but after a while he decided that maybe he should separate himself. Maybe he wouldn't be going so insane all the time if he didn't have to see her. And for the most part it worked, by day it was out of sight, out of mind, but at night at least two or three times a week, if not more, he would dream about her. Not in the dirty kind of way, he was past that age, but sometimes they were memories, sometimes she was just talking to him or she came to his dorm. In a few of his dreams she even kissed him, but that was– wrong. Or was it? He really didn't know and right now he really shouldn't care. He looked at the clock again, 10:29, time to study.

"Emily Dickenson kept a drawer full poems in her room, she had over a thousand, but only seven were published in her life time. Blah blah blah blah blah," read his text book. It was getting hard to focus and he really felt tired. Maybe a quick nap would be good.

"No!" he forced himself into awake mode; he had to study for this exam. "Maybe it would help if I had someone to study with, someone smart, someone like Cas –," but he stopped his train of thought there. He looked down at his book, he looked up at his clock, it read 10:31 this time. He rest his head down on the soft pages of his book, he would only rest his eyes for a few minutes.

The next thing he knew his phone was buzzing and ringing really loudly. He looked at the clock. It was 11:11, holy shit.

"Who the hell?" he muttered to himself, picking up the phone and looking at the caller i.d. A little picture of a pretty girl with sparkling blue eyes, long brown hair, and dazzling smile all perfectly put together appeared on the screen. It couldn't be, it wasn't. He was asleep, another dream. He pinched himself.

"Ow," he said, he was definitely awake, although it took him another ring of his phone to realize he should probably answer it.

"Casey?" he said slowly, wondering why she had called.

"Hey," she said. She sounded held back and nervous.

"Hey?" Is that all she called for, to say 'hey?' "What do you want?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to call," she said hesitantly.

"You just wanted to call me?" he still couldn't piece together what exactly she wanted. She had to want something, it's not like she'd call just for the heck of it.

"Yeah, ya know, to see how you're doing."

"Fiiiiine?" That was total bull shit, he knew there was some other reason for her calling, they hadn't talked in weeks, maybe even months.

"That's good," she said. In a way, she sounded happy about that.

"Listen Space Case," he said impatiently. "I can't chat right now, I got finals to study for." He couldn't waste his time talking, especially with her.

"Like you study!"

"Ok, cram for."

"That's better."

At this point he was exasperated.

"Case," he sighed. "What do you want?"

"I just -,"

"What is it Casey?" he snapped.

"I just miss you, Derek."

What? It took him a while to register. She missed him? He just couldn't figure her out. He sighed, and then laughed to himself, this was almost comical.

"I miss you too, Casey," Derek said with a laugh. "But I really do have finals to study for."

"Oooo! What class?"

"Well Case, you'll find this funny," he said, too tired to lie to her. "Great Female Authors 1800-1900."

"Ha!" she laughed. "I suppose you took it to meet girls?"

"Well, yeah… And to cheat off of you."

"Der-ek!"

"Ya know I kinda miss hearing you say my name like that," he laughed.

"Yeah, well," she giggled and sighed at once, "I kinda miss saying your name like that."

He could tell she was smiling on the other end.

"Well Princess, it's been fun chatting, but I gotta get back to the books."

"But… When will I see you next?"

"I'm surprised, you really do miss me."

All he got in response was silence.

"Maybe we can car pool home for the long weekend," he sighed.

"Okay," she said, instantly sounding brighter.

"Now get some rest Casey."

"Jeez Derek, you sound like a brother."

"_Step_-brother, we've been over this before."

"Same difference," she said, just like the last time.

"Yeah, sure," he said, just like the last time. "Good night Princess."

"Study well, Derek."

"I will."

"Night."

"Good-night Casey," he said kind of forcefully.

"_Okay,_ good-night."

With that Derek Venturi heard a click on the other end. He put his phone down and turned back to his text book. He was definitely ready for finals to be over.


End file.
